Feathering paddle-wheel.



No. 668,3-72. 'v Patented Feb. I9, |901. C. W. FREEMAN. FEATHERING'PADDLE WHEEL.

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No. 668,372. Patented Feb. I9, IQOI. C. W. FREEMAN.

FEATHERING AFUDLE WHEEL.

(Appication led Aug. 16 IQQOJ (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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No. 668,372. f Patented Feb. I9, 190i. C. W. FREEMAN.

FEATHEBING PADDLE WHEEL.

x (Application f 'lled Aug. 16, 1900.) (No Model.,v 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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Nrrn STATES Ternat einen,

CHARLES VESLEY FREEMAN, OF MOUNT CARMEL, ILLINOIS.

FEATHERING PADDLE-WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming' part 0f Letters Patent N0. 668,372, dated February 19, 1901.

Application filed August 16, 1900, Serial No. 27,100. tNo model.)

To if/ZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES VESLEY FREEMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mount Carmel, in the county of Wabash and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Feathering Paddle-Wheel, of .which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in the art of marine propulsion, and cotnprehends the production of a feathering paddle-wheel having rotatably-mounted paddles and mechanism cooperating with said paddles through the rotation of the wheel to effect the immersion and emersion of the paddles edgewise and to cause them to be drawn fiatwise through the water for the purpose of economizing power by placingthe paddles in positions of minimum resistance at such points of their travel as are not effective for the propulsion of the vessel.

A primary object of the invention is to produce a paddle-wheel of this class Whose paddles are governed by mechanism capable of maintaining ,the proper feathering positions of the paddles during the rotation of the wheel in either direction, the object stated and others subordinate thereto being accomplished by the employment of paddle-controlling mechanism possessed of great durability and of minimum simplicity, as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and defined in the appended claims.

In said drawings, Figure lis a central longitudinal section through a Wheel-house and Wheel constructed and operated in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the parts in the positions they assume during the backward rotation of the paddle-wheel. Fig. 3 is a front edge view of the Wheel with parts of the housing broken away on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 and showing in section a fragment of the vessel. Fig. 4E is a detail view of one of the paddles; and Figs. 5 and 6 are views similar to Figs. 1 and 3, but of a modiiied form ot' the invention.

Referring to the numerals of reference employed to designate corresponding parts in the several views, l indicates a fragment of one side of a vessel pierced by the wheel-shaft 2 and sustaining a wheelhousing 3, within which is located the paddle-wheel Lt,mounted upon the shaft 2. The wheel 4 comprises the circular side frames 5 and 6, sustaining a circular series of intermediate paddles '7, 73,71, 7C, 7d, 7e, 7f, and 7g, extending between the side frames 5 and 6 and each having an independent rotary movement upon its own axis as well as a bodily movement around the of the wheel. The wheel-frames 5 .and 6 are shown as composed of rims S,carried by spokes 9 upon hubs 1U, mounted upon the shaft 2; but the construction of these frames is not essential, and, if desired, solid circular plates or heads can be substituted. The construction of theindividual paddles may also be varied within wide limits; but, as shown more particularly in Fig. 4 of the drawings, they preferably comprise paddle shafts 1l, havingtheiropposite ends l2 and l3journaled inthe rims 8 of the wheel-frames and carrying cross-sectionally U-shaped paddle-heads 14 and l5, which extend beyond the opposite sides of the shaft forthe reception of detachable blades 16, designed to be positioned `edgewise against the shaft l1 and to be retained by bolts 17,passed through the iianges of the heads le and 15 and through the ends of the blades. This construction 4is particularly desirable, because by its employment I am enabled to provide the paddles with blades of any desired width, in accordance with the depth of the water or the power available for the propulsion of the wheel.

Each of the paddles is controlled as to its individual axial movement by a ypaddle-arm extending in a plane at right angles to the paddle, the several arms being indicated by the numerals 18,133, 18h, 18C, 18d, 18e, lSf, and 18g. These arms may be rigidly connected with the paddles in any suitable manner in order to insure the transmission of rotary movement thereto when the arms are swung; but I prefer to extend the ends l2 of the shafts ll sufciently beyond the wheel-frame to permit the paddle-arms to be secured thereon in a manner to cause the adjacent extremities of said arms to extend somewhat beyond the shafts of the paddles for the purpose of forming trip-arms 19, designed under certain conditions to have their paths of movement obstructed by a trip-bar 20, projecting through the side of the boat and preferably extended into the engine-room or other point,

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from which the bar 23 may lie-projected into the path of the trip-arms 19 or Withdrawn, as desired.

It has been stated that the object of the invention is to cause the edgewise immersion and emersion of the paddles and to maintain them in positions of maximum resistance while passing between the points of immersion and emersion through the rotation of the wheel. It is evident that thisis accomplished by imparting to the paddles a predetermined individ ual axial movement, which willserve to sustain them in perpendicular relation to the surface of the water notwithstanding their bodily movement with the rotating wheel. This independent axial movement of the paddleis obtained through the medium of the paddle-arms 18 18, &c., for the control of which I have devised the guideways or channels located upon the side of the boat, within the wheel-house, within which ways are designed to move the terminal antifriction-rollers 21, provided at the outer extremities of the several paddle-arms. This system of ways is of peculiar form; but before attempting to define the uti-lity underlying,r the various peculiarities of arrangement I will first undertake to describe in detail the general construction and relative arrangement of the several ways or channels and will then proceed with a description of the operation, during the course of which the necessity for the peculiarities defined will be developed.

Extending rearwardly and having a slight inclination from a point adjacent to the shaft 2 is provided upon the side of the boat a continuons cam-flange 22, approximately egt,- shaped, the shaft 2 being disposed within, but eccentric to, the somewhat more acutelycurved forward end of the liange. The flange 22 is in turn surrounded by what may be termed the outside flange 23, formed at its rear end, at a point in a higher plane than the lowest portion of the flange 22, with an oset 24 and extended forwardlya considerable distance beyond the acutely-curved end of the flange 22, as indicated at 25. The lower portion of the ange 23-that is to say, that portion thereof which passes below the inner flange 22-is substantially concentric with said last-named liange from a point slightly above the normal water-level, which point is indicated by the letter a, to the offset 24, ivhich is located approximately at the waterevel.

The contiguous substantially concentric relation of the anges 22 and 23 between the point a and the offsets 24 defines what I shall term the lower way 26. This way 26 is of arcuate form, and the length of its radius is substantially equal to the distance between the axis of the shaft 2 and that of one of the paddles 7. The result of this, in view of the fact that the lower portion of said way is in substantially the horizontal plane of the axis of the lowest paddle, is to maintain the paddle-arms in substantially horizontal positions during the passage of the paddles from the pointI of immersion to the point of emersion, the effect of this being to cause the immersion and emersion of the paddle in an endwise direction and to cause its progress through the water between these points while in a position broadside to the direction of movement for the purpose of presenting a maximum resistance while being carried bodily through that arc of its movement around the axis of the wheel which is effective for the propulsion of the vessel.

The upper portion of the flange 23 is located at a considerable distance from the upper portion of the fiange 22 to permit of the interposition of what may be termed the intermediate fiange 27, having its forward end curved concentric with the forward end of the egg-shaped liange 22, as indicated at 28, and having its opposite extremity slightly dei'lected toward the offset`24, as indicated at 29. The upper portions of the flanges 22 and 23 and the intermediate liange 27 define what may be termed an upper way 30 andan intermediate way 3l, each of the several ways 26, 31, and 30 leading into the offset 24 at one end of the system ofways andthe upper and intermediate ways opening into or merging with the bottom way 26 at the opposite or forward end of the system.

Assuming that the parts are in the positionsillustrated in Fig. l of the drawings and that the paddle-wheel is being rotated in the direction of the arrow to eect the forward propulsion of the vessel,\I will describe the movements of the paddle 7 during a com plete revolution of the paddle-wheel, as the movement of this paddle is representative of the movements of the others and will serve to make plain the operation of the device. This paddle 7, as shown in Fig. l, is midway between the points of immersion and emersion, and it will be seen that as the end of the arm 18 moves rearwardly in the way 26 the curvature of said way will cause the end of the paddle-arm to describe an arc substantially identical with the arc described by the axis of the paddle 7from the position shown to the position of the paddle 7a, at the end of which arc the paddle will be emerging from the water in an edgewise position. The roller at the end of the arm 1S will now reach the end of the way 26 and will advance into the oifset 2-lE for the purpose of shifting the arm to cause it to follow the paddle as the latter moves over the axis of the wheel instead of in advance of the paddle, as is the case when the latter is passing' under the axis of the wheel. The paddle will now have reached the position indicated by the paddle 7b, and its antifrictional roller will be withdrawn from the offset 24 and will drop against the ange 22, which latter will guide it into the rear end' of the intermediate way 31, through which it will pass until the paddle has reached the position indicated by the paddle 7Bf In this position the roller at the end ofthe paddle-arm will be approaching IOO IIO

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the front end of the intermediate way, the throat of which is directed downwardly to cause the free end of the paddle-arm upon further rotation of the wheel to gravitate from the flange 22 to the flange 23 at the upper end of the way 26, which now compels the horizontal position of the arm to cause the edgewise immersion, as indicated by the paddle 7g, beyond which point the operation is as already described. If now it is desired to propel the vessel in the reverse direction, the trip-bar 2O is thrown into the position indicated in Fig. 3 of the dra\\'ings,whelre its outer end will obstruct the path of movement ofthe trip-arms 19, and to facilitate this reversa'la shifting guide is located immediately below the rear end of the intermediate way 3l. The guide 32 is inclined downwardly from the flange 22 and is designed to guide the rollers 2l from the intermediate way 3l into the offset 24. The guide 32, like the trip-bar 20, is preferably provided with an actuatingrod 33, extending into the engine-room for the purpose of' permitting the engineer to throw the guide into position to guide the rollers into the offset during the backward movement of the wheel or to permit of their unrestricted movement from the offset into the intermediate way during the forward rotation of the paddle-wheel. Assuming the direction of rotation of the paddlewheel to be reversed,

indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2, the rollers of the paddle-arms moving from right to left inthe way 26 will maintain the paddles in their proper vertical positions until they have wholly or nearly emerged from the water, at which time the trip-arm I9 of the paddle 7b' will be presented against the trip-bar for the purpose of causing` the free end of the paddle-arm 18)g to be swung back into the wide throat at the front end of the upper way 30, continued rotation of the wheel serving to cause the roller carried at the end of said arm to drop upon the intermediate Iiange and to be guided thereby through the upper way 30 until the roller strikes the deflected end 29 of the intermediate flange, which will cause said roller to drop into the outer end of the o'lfset 24, from whence it passes into the way 26 as the paddle is immersed.

The necessity for the employment of the shiftable guide 32 will be apparent when it is considered that the paddle-wheel will be reversed while the parts are in the position shown in Fig. l, and were it not for this guide the outer ends of the paddle-arms instead of passing into the offset 24 would drop down into the way 26 in advance of the paddie. rlhis then is a complete description of the construction of the paddle-wheel and the mechanism for controlling the feathering of the paddles; but attention may be called to the fact that I prefer to employ1 an absolutelyclosed or air-tight wheel-house, which in the event of its lower edge being submerged will constitute an air-chamber, within which the paddle-wheel will operate with equal effectiveness whether the Vessel is light or loaded.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have illustrated a modified form of my invention,which comprehends the employment of a single guideway 34, of nearly circular form, but characterized by the formation of a widened portion or reversing-chamber 35, formed by the Aoffset of the Aouter flange and located above the water-line and in the rear of the paddle-wheel. This widened portion or chamber of the guideway is designed to accommodate the movements of the paddle-arms as the paddles are reversed by the striking of the trip-arm 19 against a trip 36, extending from the side wall of the vessel adjacent to the reversing-chamber. For the purpose of retaining the paddles in their proper positions as they advance from the surface of the water and as they approach the water I provide a series of stoppins 37, projecting from the rim of the wheel and preferably bearing in certain positions of the paddles against springs 38, which tend to begin the reversal of the paddle before the trip-arm strikes the trip 36. In all respects other than those stated this form of the invention is identical with that heretofore described; but" it may be added that when de sired the guideways may be provided at both sides of the wheel-house or chamber, in which event the paddle-arms and the various paddle-operating devices would be duplicated at the outer side of the wheel as well as at the inner side, as herein shown.

Freni the foregoing it will be observed that I have produced a simple, durable, and highly efficient device for the improvement of the art of marine propulsion; but While the present embodiment of' the invention is believed at this time to be preferable I wish to reserve the right to effect such changes, modifications, and variations as may fall properly within the scope of the protection prayed.

What I claim isl. The combination with a paddle-wheel comprising independently axially movable paddles and paddle-arms, of inner and outer flanges defining upper and lower ways, the

outer flange being provided with an offset forthe reception ot' the ends of the paddle-arms to facilitate a change of relation of the paddles and arms with respect to the direction of the wheel.

2. The combination with a paddle-wheel comprising independently axially movable paddles and paddle-arms, of inner and outer anges defining upper and lower ways, the outer flange being provided with an odset into which the outer ends of the paddle-arms are designed to ext-end for the purpose of permitting the paddles to move in positions in advance of the arms as said paddles rise above the point of emersion.

3. The combination with a paddle-wheel comprising a series of axially-movable paddles and paddle-arms, of a lower way curved IOO IIO

in a degree corresponding to the arc described by the axis of the paddle passing from the point of immersion to the point of emersion, an upper way opening at its opposite ends into the llower way, and an offset located at one end of the lower way.

4. The combination with a suitable support and a paddle-wheel comprising a series of paddles capable of independent axial movement and paddle-arms operatively connected to the paddles, a lower way arranged for the reception and guidance of the outer ends `of the paddle-arms, an intermediate way constituting in effect a continuation of the lower way and opening into the opposite ends thereof, a lateral offset formed at one end of the lower way, and an upper way located above the intermediate way and opening at one end int-o the offset and at its opposite end into the opposite extremity of the lower Way.

5. The combination with asupport and paddle-wheel comprisinga series of paddles having independentaxial movement, paddlearms operatively connected to the paddles, a lower way arranged. to receive and guide the outer ends of the paddle-arms and terminating at one end in an offset and a..second way located above the lower way and constituting in effect a continuation thereof, and a shiftable guide located to guide the ends of the paddle-arms into the offset when the paddlewheel is rotated in the reverse direction.

6. The combination with a supportand paddle-wheel comprising a series of paddles having independent axial movement, paddlearms operatively connected with the paddles, a plurality of separate ways arranged for the reception and guidance of the paddle-arms during the reverse movements of the wheel, trip-arms operatively connected with the pad- (lle-arms, and a trip device arranged to be located in the path of movement of the triparms to effect the shifting of the paddle-arms through the rotation of the wheel.

7. The combination with a support and paddle-Wheel comprising a series of paddles having independent axial movement, of paddlearms operatively connected with the paddles and extended beyond the axes of said paddles in both directions, separate ways arranged for the guidance of the paddle-arms during the opposite movements of the paddle- Wheel, and a shiftable trip device located in the path of the extended ends of the paddlearms disposed beyond the periphery of the paddle-wheel.

8. The combination with a support and paddle-Wheel comprising a series of paddles having independent axial movement, of paddlearms, a system of ways for the guidance of said arms, said system comprising a lower Way, an intermediate way and an upper way, an offset located at one end of the lower way and communicating with the contiguous end of the upper way, a shiftable guide arranged to guide the paddle-arms from the intermediate way into the offset, the ends of the iny termediate and upper ways opposite the offset being merged with the lower way, and means for compelling the paddle-arms to enter the upper way when the paddle-Wheel is rotated backward.

9. The combination with a support and paddle-.wheel comprisinga series of paddles having independent axial movement, of paddlearms extending radially from the axes of the paddles land extended to form trip-arms capable of location beyond the periphery of the paddle-wheel,` a system of ways arranged for the guidance of the paddlearms, said-system comprising a lower way, an intermediate Way forming a continuation of the lower Way and an upper way, an offset located intermediate of the lower and upper ways at one end, a shiftable guide arranged to guide the paddlearms from the intermediate way of the offset, and a shiftable trip device located in the path of the trip-arms to compel the paddle-arms to pass from the lower way into the upper Way through the backward rotation of the paddle- Wheel.

l0. The combination with a support, a paddle-wheel comprising a series of paddles having independent axial movement and paddlearms, of a system of ways designed for the guidance of the paddle-arms and defined by a substantially elliptical inner iiange,an outer iiange surrounding the inner flange and having an offset formed therein, and an intermediate flange having one end deflected into the offset of the outer fiange.

l1. The combination with a paddle-wheel comprising independently axially movable paddles and paddle-arms, of inner and outer flanges defining upper and. lower Ways, the outer flange being provided with an offset for the reception of the ends of the paddle-arms to facilitate a change of relation of the paddles and arms with respect to the direction of the wheel, and an air-chamber inclosing the paddle wheel above the normal Waterlevel.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afxed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES WESLEY FREEMAN.

Witnesses:

ISAAC W. JAQUEss, M. H. MUNDY. 

